New Beyond Skyrim project promises to go even beyonder to Iliac Bay

A proper modding community can keep a game world alive long after the studio behind that title has put it to pasture. Or, more accurately in this case, when the studio just keeps porting the original game to new devices instead of, you know, making new entries. Skyrim has some of the most in-depth world building teams on the mod market, and instead of merely remastering or HD’ing their way through old titles, they’re re-inventing the wheel. The Beyond Skyrim team just released the trailer and description for their expansion Iliac Bay and the production values are awe-inspiring.

The Beyond Skyrim project wants to revisit lands from older Elder Scrolls games, exploring how they’ve changed through new stories which are contemporaneous with the events of Skyrim. For example, in an earlier mod we covered, Beyond Skyrim took a look at the volcanic post-destructive hellscape that Morrowind has evolved into.

(Admittedly, I’m a much bigger Fallout fan, and so I want to make a comparison regarding which locations I would like to see revisited via mods in Fallout 4, but I’m not sure how any of those timelines work out. Needless to say, this is such a cool approach.)

Beyond Skyrim: Three Kingdoms will be the first release from the Iliac Bay: Tower of Dawn project. Covering the eastern Breton kingdoms of Farrun and Jehanna, as well as the Abecean Isles off the western coast of Hammerfell, it will provide a fresh, updated take on the classic lore and locations, complete with all the depth, choice and rich content that fans have come to expect from Beyond Skyrim. Each area will feature fully voiced NPCs, new adventures and locations to explore, and of course, new magic, treasures, and equipment.

To the north of Iliac Bay lies the land of High Rock, ancestral homeland of the Bretons. Every Breton city is a Kingdom in its own right, with its own laws, armies, and rulers answering only to the Emperor himself. It is a land of shining chivalry and treacherous, scheming politics, of immense wealth and grinding poverty. But it also provides almost limitless opportunity for any enterprising adventurer who is bold and skilful enough to catch the eye of the great noble families of Bretony…